What is an idiom?

Idioms are phrases or expressions that don’t literally mean what the
individual words in the phrase stand for. Idioms emerge from an incident or
past story. Overtime, however, they lose their meaning and become
figurative.
For example: a piece of cake
The literal meaning of this is cake slice (lava cake, anybody?). But, when you
use it as an idiom, you mean something that’s easy to do — that’s this
phrase’s figurative meaning.
With the formal idioms definition out of the way, let’s look at some examples
of idioms that you’ve probably already heard or used before:

Why do we use idioms?

The short answer is: idioms add life to your writing. But exactly how do
these groups of words polish your English?
Here are five ways idiomatic expressions help you:
1. IDIOMS PAINT A VISUAL PICTURE FOR YOUR READERS
Even if it’s plain content that you’re working on – you can up your writing’s
description game by using idioms.
Look at this example:

The idiom means having to choose from equally difficult paths. By using it,
not only does the sentence sound better, but the particular idiom creates a
visual picture in the readers’ mind. They can imagine Mara having to choose
between sinking in the dark sea and the devil itself. Either way, Mara’s dead.
2. THEY ADD IMPACT TO YOUR WRITING
In the example above, there’s a third favor that this idiom does to the
sentence: it adds meaning.
Think of it like this: saying ‘choosing between equally unpleasant scenarios’
is dull and boring, even meh. And, it doesn’t leave much of an impact. But,
when you, as a reader, imagine Mara standing between the ‘devil and the
deep blue sea,’ you can tell things are gettin’ serious.

3. THESE EXPRESSIONS ADD HUMOR TO YOUR WRITING

Besides adding flavor to otherwise dull writing, some idioms can help you
brighten your readers’ mood.
Frankly, humor isn’t easy to work into your writing. Unless, you’re a master
at cracking jokes. Most of us, however, aren’t good at that. So, instead of
making a fool of ourselves, it’s better to pull out an idiom like the one below:
Literally, Sophie isn’t a chicken and, of course, she has her head intact. The
idiom just means that like a panicked chicken, Sophie is running around in a
haphazard manner. This is a funny, light-hearted way of explaining Sophie’s
situation.
4. IDIOMS MAKE YOU SOUND LIKE NATIVE SPEAKERS
This is another good reason for slipping idioms into your writing. Every
language has its own idioms that emerge from its culture. Or, they originate
from stories specific to a region.
This means that if you want to impress a Brit English speaker, for example,
you should use idioms of British origin. Some of these are:

Meaning: Asking someone to share their thoughts with you.

Meaning: A plan that didn’t work, requiring you to sketch it from the start.
If you’re into novel writing, you can draw on these region-specific idioms to
write dialogue for a character from a particular region. So that’s another plus
of using idioms.
5. THEY HELP YOU EXPLAIN COMPLEX IDEAS SIMPLY AND
BRIEFLY
Lastly, idioms can help you simplify ideas. Use an idiom instead of going into
unnecessary details. In all the examples you’ve read so far, you’ll note that
the idioms make it easy to explain something.
Take the idiom ‘back to the drawing board.’ Using it means you don’t need to
rely on tons of words to explain that a plan went bust and now you’ve got to
regroup and plan again. You can simply say, let’s go back to the drawing
board.
Similarly, when you want someone to get to the point, you can simply
say: stop beating about the bush.

Tips on using idioms

Convinced you need to work more idioms into your writing? Cool. We’ll give
you a list of common English idioms in the next section to make things easy
for you.
Plus, here are some things to keep in mind as you dabble into the use of
idioms, an essential part of learning English:
DON’T OVERDO THEM
Some idioms are so over used they turn into clichés. Your writing is always
better off without clichés as they’re unoriginal. So use idioms sparingly,
where they help you summarize or deliver any of the benefits discussed
above.
SEE IF A SPECIFIC DETAIL WOULD BE BETTER
For example, once in a blue moon is a good idiom. But, if you find that your
readers can benefit from a detail like ‘someone visited on the third of every
month,’ skip the idiom. Be specific instead.

35 popular idioms and their meaning

Ready to use idioms? Use this list:

1. Beef up: To strengthen or increase something. : The residents of

Taman Kangar will beef up security in the area due to widespread
cases of robbery

2. Turn turtle: Turn turtle means to turn upside down or flip the side. :
The boat almost turned turtle twice but I managed to keep it upright

3. Eager beaver: Someone who is all charged up or enthusiastic about a

job is an eager beaver. : Haziq is an eager beaver because he always
become the first to finish every assignment

5. Spill the beans: to reveal the truth about something secret or private: Syafiq
spilled the beans, and Azlyn knew all about the birthday party in advance
6.
7. Couch potato: a person who takes little or no exercise and watches a lot of television : Nurin is
such a couch potato. She does not do her homework and just watches television all day.

8. Hit the sack: This idiom is a fancy way of saying that someone’s tired
and they’re going to sleep. You can also say hit the hay. : Fitri feels
extremely tired after the petanque training. All he wants right now is
to hit the sack.

7. Bite the bullet: To do something no matter how unpleasant it is :

Meeting new people is always a nightmare for her but as a new staff,
she has to
bite the
bullet

9. In fine fettle: In good health.

10. A hot potato: A controversial topic that no one wants to discuss
– same as no one wants to hold a hot potato.

11. Go bananas: Go bananas is a fun way of saying someone’s

excited or angry.

12. An arm and a leg: When something’s overpriced, you can say it
costs an arm and a leg. Alternatively, you can say: it costs a fort0une
or it costs a bomb.

13. Under the weather: Slightly unwell or feeling low.

14. Lose your touch: Literally, that’s losing your sense of touch.
But the idiom doesn’t mean that, of course. It means you lose some
skill or talent you previously had.

15. Twist someone’s arm: To twist someone’s arm is to convince

them to do something like a kid twisting their mum’s arm to get ice
cream.

16. Pie in the sky: Something that’s unlikely, therefore, wishful

thinking.

17. The ball in your court: Have two or more people or parties
deciding on something and one side has made their move? Great,
there’s only one party that’s to decide now and a good way to say that
is: the ball in their court.

18. Curiosity killed the cat: Sometimes prodding too much into a
situation or question can get you into trouble. That’s what this idiom
means.

19. Bark up the wrong tree: Barking up the wrong tree is blaming
the wrong person, following a wrong thought/plan, or looking in the
wrong place.

20. Hit the nail on the head: When you get something done
perfectly, you hit the nail on the head. After all, it’s only when you hit
the nail on the head that you can drill it in the right spot.

21. The elephant in the room: The story behind this idiom is that
a man walked into a museum and noticed every tiny thing there
except for an elephant. Today, the phrase denotes a chief issue that
everyone knows is present, but no one addresses it.
 22. Taste your own medicine: It’s when someone gets treated the
way they’ve been treating others (good time to think of karma, no?).

23. Steal someone’s thunder: Taking someone else’s credit or

taking the spotlight when you don’t deserve it.

24. Stab someone in the back: This one’s a snazzy way of saying
you’re backbiting or planning against someone in their absence.

25. Kill two birds with one stone: When you get two things done
in one shot, you’re killing two birds with one stone. Example, I’m
writing this piece and revising idioms too.

26. Best thing since sliced bread: The idiom means hyped up
enthusiasm in someone, something, or some idea.

27. Bite more than you can chew: When you commit to more
than you do/deliver, you’ve officially bitten more than you can chew.

28. Every cloud has a silver lining: A good result after bad things.

29. Look at the bright side: When you choose to see the positive
in an overall bad situation (or may I say, shituation).

30. You can’t judge a book by its cover: This means you can’t
jump to conclusions only by looking at the cover or outward
appearance.

31. More holes than a Swiss cheese: Seeing holes in a story or

plan? Congratulations, Sherlock! Now, voice your concern using this
idiom.

32. Don’t put all your eggs in one basket: It’s when you put all
your resources or hopes (figuratively: eggs) in one source (basket).

33. Get up on the wrong side of the bed: When you wake up in a
bad mood.

34. Everything but the kitchen skin: It means everything

imaginable including the unnecessary stuff.

35. Pick a bone with someone: To discuss something at length with

someone.

WORDS AT WORK